Of Fantasies
by Vahlahn
Summary: Yeah haven't updated in ages due to stopping the playing of FF11 so didn't really continue then started Uni and generally haven't really wanted to write anything. May continue may not. Meh. Yeah this story has officially died. Never bother this house ever
1. Old friends New beginnings

**Chapter 1 - Old friends. New beginnings**

Bright, hot and dusty. Yes he was truly home. The hash deserts of Gusteberg are considered by most to be barren, ugly wastelands that should be made into beautiful forests, this last part usually added by the elvaans. But to Bootus it was beautiful, and it was home.

Bootus slowly made his way threw the desert, passing certain memories on his way back to Bastok. Here he would meet once more with his friends and fellow adventurers, there meetings were always one of excitement and Bootus hoped this would be no different. However he did realise that after a year that they'd all be different, shaped by their own personal journeys and moulded by their experiences. _Exciting and interesting_ Bootus thought with a grin appearing on his face.

Bastok was a big industrial city, for this reason many adventurers, Bards, scientist and merchants flocked towards Bastok in the hope of gaining something personally significant. Usually they'd end up staying at Bastok too long and find themselves married, settled down with children and growing old, giving way to the new batch of young, naïve fortune seekers. For Bootus this was his home, brought up in the Bastok mines with his 'family'. Bootus was a Galka and therefore never had someone to call mother or father, however it is thought because of this the Galkan race is one of the more affectionate races in Vana'diel, always willing to help, always looking to make a friend, no matter how much they tried to hide it under their bulk of muscle and seemingly emotionless faces.

As Bootus approached the Bastok South gate young adventurers were testing their skills and practising their moves on the few beastman that skulked the desert. Bootus once trained in this way, trying to get stronger, more skilled so he could finally venture out into the world and try to make it a better place for all. This seemed like a Millennium ago now, but was only 2 years. However long ago it was Bootus left it seemed that Bastok it self hadn't changed a bit. Merchants and Bards roamed the streets trying to get some poor fool to part with their money, and in some cases unknowingly parting with their money thanks to a thief doing his job to lighten peoples pockets as not to weigh them down. _Everything seems well enough_ thought Bootus as he made his way to the Bastok fountain, the designated meeting place which was agreed to a year ago today. As Bootus had guessed he was the first one there. None of the others really being good time keepers, a skill he had hoped they had improved on.

"Typical!" The loud female voice seemed familiar to Bootus some how

"I thought after a year you'd have learnt that not everyone is as tall as you!"

The obvious implication was to look down. Doing so revealed the familial scrawl of Vivli.

"Meh it's their own fault for not being born a Galka." replied Bootus, in a tone and way that would seem like he'd only just saw Vivli 5 minutes ago

"Now you sound like an Elvaan. What you do? Spend a year in Sand'Orian?"

"Good to see you to Vivli."

"Yeah, yeah. Nice to see you to."

With that Vivli hopped up to sit on the fountain. Though this gave her a few more inches it still wasn't enough to rival the Galka's massive bulk.

"So what's with the sword? I thought you didn't like using weapons, you being a monk and all." Asked Vivli, the small white mage Mithra.

"I'm sure we all have stories to tell, lets just wait till the others get here."

The relationship between Bootus and Vivli was one hidden in insults and petty pranks towards each other. If you spent 5 minutes together with them in the room you'd wonder how they hadn't ended up killing each other. But the truth be told they had a strange sort of liking for each other that neither could really explain.

A good 5 minutes went by with the 2 reunited friends staying in silence, though each wanted to tell of their wondrous adventurers away. Especially Vivli who thought her adventure might finally cause the Galka brute to respect her and take her seriously, instead of looking down on her all the time. Just as Vivli was starting to get impatient with the lack of their other comrades she heard a tune started up beside her. This wasn't unusual as Bards in Bastok were common place, trying to scrounge a few gil off anyone who would be foolish enough to want to hear them sing about some stupid event that no one was really interested in. As the song went on she also noticed some humming was accompanying it on her right side. Looking over she noticed it was Bootus.

"I never knew you liked music." Exclaimed the slightly surprised Mithra

"Moonlight Sonata Li. My favourite song." Replied Bootus, starring into the distance as if remembering something

"A beautiful song it is to!" said a small voice, native to young children yet to hit puberty and Tarutaru's

"Bollo!" Exclaimed Bootus as he looked towards were the music once was, and now stood a Tarutaru dressed in queer clothing

"Nice clothing there." Vivli never really being the one to have tact didn't think twice to pointing out the obvious.

"I'll have you know these are fine Bard clothing. Personally I like the feather in the hat!"

"A Bard? Well that is a surprise career path for a mage wielding the black arts." Bootus's voice always seemed softer when talking to the Taru companion. As if he thought he would blow the poor guy away if he were to speak too loudly. A liberty he wasn't known to give Vivli. In fact the only time he talked softly to her was if it was in a sarcastic tone.

"Well Magic's always been my 2nd passion. Music's what I've always wanted to do! So when I met a Bard on my travels of course I asked him to take me under his wing!"

"Heh. Who would have thought it? Well I suppose it's a more interesting occupation than a white mage." It seemed that even when Vivli wasn't in the conversation Bootus found away to make a mocking comment about her or her profession. With the characteristic Vivli scrawl she was about to give Bootus an ear full when she was rudely interrupted.

"Your going to burst a blood vessel one day Vivli. You really shouldn't let Bootus get to you like that. You know he doesn't mean it." Startled Vivli spun round to be met with a well armoured guy standing in front of her. However when you spend such a long time with people you don't need to recognize them by their looks. Plus when your as small as Vivli faces aren't always the most practical way of recognizing people.

"ZINKATA!" Vivli exclaimed more excitedly than she meant and was expected. All the same she decided to go the full mile and hug Zinkata's waist.

"Good to see you to Li."

"Already used that one."

"Pfft I'm sure you weren't the first."

"Yeah I was!"

"I meant the first person ever."

" … Well no …"

"Jeez can't you people stay out of an argument for more than a second?" Bollo's interjection came at the right time to lighten the mood of the conversation.

"Meh. What's the fun in being nice and polite?" Bootus never was one to get by on his charm, though there have been situations he'd rather forget its came in useful!

"So where's Voldos? Thought I'd be the last one. I had to quickly go see my parents. You know how parents can be. Kinda kept me too long!"

"Well the stupid elf's never been good at time keeping. Probably thinks it's Lightday instead of Firday." Vivli's critical, and not entirely un racial, views of Voldos, though mean, were a sad truth that they'd hoped he'd get over. But Voldos wasn't into improvements. In fact he thought of himself as too perfect to need improving. This Vivli put down to Elvaan up bringing!

"Lets give him another 10 minutes before contacting him on the linkshell." Bollo interjected before Bootus could make an Elvaan Mithra Joke at both Voldos's and Vivli's expense.

Little did the four adventurers know Voldos's lateness wasn't down to his overwhelming stupidity, but the elf did have a legitimate excuse and as he approached the Bastok gate he wondered how the news would be taken.


	2. Friends reunited

**Chapter 2 - Friends reunited**

Voldos, like most elvaans, was a thin tall man with the Elvaan pointed ears and Elvaan inflated sense of ego. However unlike most Elvaans Voldos didn't look down on the other races and make a snobbish snort, no Voldos in his naïve charm just thought of himself as perfection walking and didn't need clarifying with the usual snobbish snort and instead just smiled and looked, in his eyes, perfect. However not even Voldos could manage the trade mark 'perfect' smile as he shuffled some what uncharacteristically past the Bastok South Gate guards.

Like his fellow warriors and adventurers Voldos hadn't been to Bastok in a year, and to his mind this was a good thing. Although Voldos didn't receive the Elvaan 'better than thou' personality he did have the Elvaan distaste for anything none Elvaan, this included Bastok and as he walked through the streets of Bastok, getting the occasional stare, he was reminded why.

'Finally' Voldos thought 'this journey that could be called by less perfect creatures as hellish is over!' The Bastok fountain was a few steps away and there in front of him was his fellow adventurers, his friends. As Voldos approached first Bollo turned to the squelching sounds followed by the rest of the group. Once all were aware of Voldos's presence the laughter began. Full hearty, belly aching laughter that rang through out The Republic of Bastok that made passers by take notice and to check out the source of the laughter which seemed infectious as the passers by also chuckled along with the band of adventurers.

Needless to say Voldos was not amused. As he stood there in a soaking wet leather shirt, trousers, boots and gloves he realised that maybe he should have waited for his clothes to dry out before he went to meet his friends. To most passers by the scene of a soaking wet Elvaan was funny it didn't seem to need the kind of laughter the five adventurers who once sat at the fountain but were now in various states of side holding and floor rolling were giving it but it they weren't just laughing at Voldos's latest escapade, oh no, this brought back glorious memories of ever other Voldos mishap they had been witnessed to in the past, in fact they hadn't even been told what the latest one was.

"Are you going to let me tell you what happened?" Voldos asked being humiliated enough for one hour.

"I don't know. I think. It's funnier. This way." In any normal situation this would have been another one of Bootus's quick witty lines however, thanks to the laughter, this one line proved harder than it should have been. By now though Voldos had, had enough and decided to just tell the pile of laughing bodies the story and hope for the laughter to end.

"Well for your information I was walking through North Gusteberg and while crossing the bridge a Quadav came charging towards me. Being the perfect fighter I am I quickly drew my bow and arrow, took my shooting stance and prepared to shoot the charging beast." Up to this part of the story Voldos was coming out on top. "However I forgot to tie my boot lace and ended up tripping over it and falling over on my face."

"… So why are you wet?" Asked the newly composed Bootus.

"The Quadav was still charging and I had to role out the way into the stream to avoid him."

This was followed by a blank silence from Voldos's friends and adventures before their belly aching hearty laughter was renewed once more. This on reflection was another bad idea. Through the mangled body parts Voldos started to notice his friends new attire, Zinkata in shiny armour, Bootus in not so shiny armour, Bollo in a cool cap with a feather in it and Vivli wearing… well Vivli seemed unchanged, but the others looked different. As did Voldos in fact exchanging his suite of armour for a more flexible leather suite. This was due to the groups hiatus.

One year ago they decided that being together as group was great but after a while you need time to go your separate ways and do your own thing for a bit. During this time it would seem each adventurer had the same idea to improve there battle expertise by learning a new discipline of fighting.

Voldos had taken the root of the Ranger. Voldos was the son to a proud family of Royal Knights serving under the Elvaan royal family. Generation after generation of Voldos's forefathers had proved themselves worthy of their title of knight. So Voldos taking on the role of Ranger and taking the bow over the sword you'd think he was rebelling, but you'd be wrong and in fact his dreams are to become a royal knight he just thought his archery could be of help. Though in Voldos's dreams logic didn't enter the equation and so the thought that the Elvaans are to big headed and snobbish to take on new ideas such as archers in there proud Royal knight ranks would be looked down upon and laughed at.

Zinkata became a Paladin. If you knew Zinkata 2 years ago the thought of having such an honorary job as a Paladin would be … well it wouldn't have even been contemplated. This is mainly due to Zinkata being a thief. However meeting with the band of adventurers changed the soft hearted Hume and caused a knock on effect which caused him to, in cliché fashion, change his ways and follow the path of a warrior and eventually a Paladin. To Zinkata this was a way to get some respect from the adventurers, but unknown to Zinkata even as a thief was one of the most respectable member.

Bootus was brought up on the philosophy of your strength is your weapon. Hence he became a Monk and for the majority of his life his fists were enough to take out any enemy he came across. However with some prompting from his 'father' he ended up venturing to Norg and opened up his mind to other possibilities. Though now a Samurai he still lived by this philosophy, just the added philosophy of the Katana is apart of the spirit and an extension of their body has also been taken on.

Vivli went back to her monastery in Windurst expecting to spend the year relaxing and enjoying her home town, however this didn't go to plan. When she got to the monastery the high priestess was waiting for her, seems she had something special for young Vivli to do. In the world of Vana'diel there are special people who go by the name of Summoner. These Summoners have the ability to connect to a different world, a world of Gods and Goddess's. Through these powers the Summoner can call forth a God or Goddess of their choice to jump plains and fight for the Summoner. There are only 4 Summoners at anyone time, Vivli had picked to be the 3rd Summoner. After a good 10 minutes of protest it was concluded that refusal would be an insult on her monastery and was soon on her way to the Bras'a temple and to receive her summoning powers.

As a kid Bollo was given a flute. Through out his childhood and into adolescence Bollo would play the flute at least once a day, that is until he started going to magic school. Though Bollo tried to continue playing his flute the work load of magic school was to demanding so most of the time the flute was left un played, especially when he ended up adventuring. So when he saw a travelling Bard on his way home he couldn't resist learning about the life and powers of a Bard.

There was no jester in the whole of Vana'diel that could rival Voldos in the department of spontaneous humour and none of the 4 adventurers minded being reminded of this. Unfortunately no matter how humorous the situation the laughter inevitably stops and as the 4 got up from the ground there were met with a steaming mad Voldos who thought of his actions as kind of quick and dexterous and defiantly not something to laugh at, especially when you think of the high death risk! "If you're quite finished with laughing at my death defying feats of excellence I think we should get on with what were here to do!"


	3. Fanatical feminist

**Chapter 3 - Fanatical feminist**

"Actually the elf makes a good point" Vivli said, not actually agreeing with what Voldos said, make realising he unintentionally made a different point. "What are we here to do?" This sensible and some would say needed comment was met with silence and blank stares from the rest of the group.

Before they disbanded a year ago they mostly spent their time adventuring the world, doing quests for anyone willing to pay and doing the odd mission from the Bastokian government, however after their year away discovering themselves and other things quests and missions had been trivialised and they needed something a bit more juicy to sink their teeth into, something of world ending proportions that they could go out and save the world for, something like the time the world was in danger of a new ice age due to a mad mages diabolical schemes. This the band of adventurers had fun dealing with, and even though they never actually got the credit for it, it was still an extremely proud moment in their lives.

"Well has anything been happening here? Mad mages? Eccentric Warriors bent on world domination?" Their thoughts were vocalised by a wondering Voldos.

"Not here. Bastoks been quite it's probably ever been. Not even The Quadav have been acting up." Bootus replied having already been told the lack of news by his 'father' over the linkshell when he was on his way back to Bastok.

"Well that seems odd in itself… why wouldn't the Quadav be acting up? Through personal experience we know how much they'd love to take over Bastok and eradicate the Hume and Galka population, and any other poor sucker who's in the city walls at the time." Voldos, itching for a fight after his earlier humiliation to show his fellow warriors how much he's improved in the art of war since they've split up.

"Well why don't we go down the mines and check it out? I mean we might as well start our refreshed adventuring somehow." The previously quiet Zinkata's suggestion was met with happy and hopeful smiles

"Then off to yonder-wonder we go!" Bollo said pointing towards Bastok South Gate while being picked by Bootus and put on his left shoulder.

As the group of six confidently walked to the South Gate, led by an overly excited Voldos, Vivli wondered why Bootus never gave her a ride on his shoulder. The original reason for Bollo being there is that his little legs usually meant he got left behind and this meant the other had to wait for Bollo to catch up and even when he did catch up they had to wait for him to catch his breath, so one day while they were headed for the exact same mines Bootus decided that it was best for everyone if Bollo from then on rode on his shoulders, this left Vivli in practically the same situation. Before it didn't matter that she was extremely slow as Bollo being slower meant she could take her time, reach the others and not be out of breath however with Bollo no longer running it was Vivli who reached the destination late, panting and puffing feeling quite embarrassed. She had always hoped that Bootus would do the same for her instead of complaining and making jokes at her expense for her slowness but Bootus hasn't offered and Vivli being to stubborn and proud never asked. This meant quests and missions usually took longer than needed.

As they walked through South Gusteberg Voldos saw a thing of beauty on the horizon. Voldos's delusions of perfection stemmed to all parts of his personality this included the way he handled the opposite sex. Whenever a new beautiful women caught Voldos's eye he was there within seconds reciting corny chat up line after corny chat up line. The women usually gave Voldos an annoyed sideward glance and walked off, some slapping him and the extreme rare few thinking Voldos was cute and giving him half a chance to make something of their relationship. However Voldos's arrogant nature and general stupidity ended these relationships pretty quickly. Now Voldos saw a new conquest on the horizon, prime for the picking, or pick up as the case may be.

"Zin. See that lushes warrior women coming towards us? How much you want to bet she'll be in my arms within a minute?" Voldos's confidence with the women was unfathomably high with his past track record.

"Willingly or not?" Zinkata asked knowing this was his way to a quick 100 gil

"Willing of course. The Voldo doesn't need force just his charm." Voldos said giving Zinkata a wink and gun finger point.

"hmmm she seems especially independent … 500 gil"

"Better get counting Zin." With that Voldos trotted ahead to meet with the mysterious women in shiny blue armour and long blond hair in a pony tail.

"Hey beautiful how about -" Voldos was cut extremely short of his usual opening chat up line by a forceful fist in his chin. It would appear Zinkata's assessment of the women's independence was a bit of an understatement.

With the women's fist still under Voldos's chin he lost consciousness and fell to the dirt floor.

"Thank Shiva it's finally happened! He's finally got what he truly deserved!" Vivli's enjoyment of seeing Voldos finally getting his comeuppance blinded her from the oddity of Voldos being knocked unconscious with one punch, however this wasn't lost on Bootus or Zinkata. As Bootus began to walk towards the warrior women he set Bollo back down on the ground and rested one hand on the hilt of his Great Katana.

"Excuse me ma'am but don't you think that was a bit drastic?" Bootus asked hoping to advert a fight and settle this with words where they'd go back to the tavern in Bastok and laugh about the misunderstanding.

"You males are all the same. Arrogant and stupid. I think it's time women ruled this male suppressed world." And with that she jump towards Bootus twirling in mid air and delivering a kick to his face before he could even block her attack. Unfortunately for Bootus not only was her attack fast but also extremely strong and sent him a good 3 feet flying, landing on the hard dirt on his back.

"God damn whore!" Bootus's Monk background meant he could with stand and ignore extreme amounts of pain allowing him to stand his ground against the mightiest of foes. Conjuring up all his Monk and Samaria skill he got to his feet, drew his great katana and charged the fanatical feminist. However he was back on the flaw on his back as he was floored by a massive fireball to the chest. Coughing up blood Bootus tried to get up once more, the thought of how this women possibly got this much power continually entering his head as he fought the pain and unconsciousness.

Zinkata having seen enough drew his sword, readied his shield and charged the seemingly invincible warrior himself. Just as he was about to slash her across the back of her knees where her armour was weakest a green sphere of lightening formed around her sending Zinkata back a few feet, finally being stopped my a mountain.

"A mere male being able to contend with me? HA! I'll give your gender one thing: You amuse me with how you delude yourself with thinking your our equal!" With this the warrior women gave Bootus a swift kick in the stomach sending him into unconsciousness, ending his fight.

Vivli never felt 100 safe when she was facing an adversary with all five of them being at full strength let alone being left with the Bard/black mage to face some insane feminist bent on world domination who could kill his with her little finger, let alone the massive 6 ft sword she wore on her back. As she stood in fear she realised Bollo was doing the same thing hiding behind her leg and tried to think of something to do to at least defend them before the bitch made her way to them to end there suffering once and for all. As she remembered her summoning powers it was too late, she was right in front of the terror struck duo and would attack any moment. As Vivli closed her eyes and waited for her body to meet cold steel a thousand thoughts went through her mind consisting of why she didn't deserve to die and what she would do to make everyone's lives better if she was aloud to continue living. However cowardly this action might have seemed she was faring better then Bollo who had passed out when the warrior women had finally reached Vivli's side but both actions weren't needed as she just walked past the two mages without even a second glance.

After five minutes of confessing her ever sin Vivli realised that cold steel death wasn't being met. At first Vivli thought her soon to be murderer had decided to torment the pair a little longer making the final action of killing that little bit more sweeter. After another five minutes it became apparent to Vivli this wasn't the case and as she reopened her eyes she noticed that she was alone with four unconscious bodies being the only life around her.

Voldos was alone in a black void of nothingness. When he tried to scream no words came out. When he tried to move his muscles wouldn't respond. This terrified Voldos almost to the point of tears as his eyes feverously looked around to try and find something that would explain his predicament. Then he saw beautiful white light coming towards, soothing him and comforting the once scared Voldos. As he closed his eyes he could hear familiar voices, though he couldn't make out what they were saying. It sounded like he was at the opposite end of a tunnel to the other people and as he listened he noticed the voices were getting louder as if the bodies belonging to them were getting closer. Then the noise turned into words.

"I don't know! He should be up! Maybe he suffered brain damage or something." _Vivli. That was Vivli's voice, what's she doing in the void of nothingness? _As he thought this he opened his eyes to see a familiar face in a void of unknown. As he opened his eyes he was no longer in the dark scary void but back in South Gusteberg, a concerned Bollo bending over him looking into his eyes.

"It's ok! He's a wake!" Bollo said straightening himself and starting to dance with joy at the elvaans renewed consciousness.

"About bloody time! Do you know how many cure spells I had to use? I don't get me started about you getting us into this mess!" Vivli was rightfully annoyed. In the space of an hour of meeting up with her friends she'd been mocked, humiliated, terrified and seen three of her friends knocked unconscious without being able to put up a fight.

"Calm down Li. I'm awake now aren't I? Just needed a few minutes nap is all.

"A nap ….?"Vivli looked to be at breaking point as she stared at Voldos just getting off the dusty ground sheer madness in her eyes.

"I think we have more important things to deal with than Voldos's laziness at this moment Li." Zinkata said hoping to focus the anger and hate on the person who caused the terror and pain rather than the one who provoked it.

"Zinkata's right. Well it would appear that the whore's some kind of new feminist movement group out to take over the world." In the panic and terror it would be easy to miss some of the easiest of plot points, Bootus saw his job as to make sure everyone was clued up on their situations.

"Damn! And here I was hoping it was a new girl band!" Voldos saw his job as bring perfection to the group, however what he actually brought was annoyance and pain to Vivli who couldn't stand stupidity, especially elvaan stupidity.

"Well Let's go to Bastok - wastok and see if she therey - wherey." Bollo's input was thankfully more useful than Voldos's and gave them a direction to go in.

As they approached the South Gate the vacancy of guards caused the group to hope that the Bastokian guard and Mithril Musketeers was enough to null this attack. But as they entered Bastok none of them were prepared for what they saw.


	4. Adventure on the horizon

**Chapter 4 - Adventure on the horizon**

"This would never happen to San d'Oria." Exclaimed Voldos tired of the stunned violence, wanting to get his chance to exact his revenge on the crazy fanatical bitch. Of course the other 4 just ignored his child like inpatients taking more time to survey the destruction in front of them. A once proud bustling town square had been reduced to rubble and a housing of death and injury.

"Uh Vivli. How long were we out for?" The destruction in front of them looked like something a beastman horde would take 5 hours to do rather than the 10 minutes Bootus thought they took to recover.

"I healed you guys as soon as it was safe to!" Vivli replied in a slight desperate whiny voice.

"How soon was it till it was safe?" A raised eyebrow helped to illiterate Bootus's suspicion.

"Soon as she was gone of course! You saw her abilities! She could easily have done this."

"Yeah in a deserted town maybe, but not with guards and adventurers challenging her!"

"I'm telling you she did this within 10 minutes!" Vivli's voice started to rise as she got frustrated with Bootus's lack of faith in her.

Truth is the super strong warrior whore took longer than 10 minutes to lay waste to Bastok. It took her a good 30 minutes to subdue the guards and few Mithril Musketeers remaining in the city and a further 15 to exact her sadistic pleasures on the people of Bastok. The reason why the adventurers hadn't been cured and on there way to have their butts kicked all over again trying to defend the city is because it took the better part of 25 minutes for Vivli to get her emotions in check and get over the evil she had felt oozing from the Butch Bitch and another 5 until she was sure her friends wouldn't be able to tell of the emotional stress she had been subjected to. If she had known this was happening she might have hurried the process on further.

As the memory of the past hour came back to Vivli the question of why she had been scared so bad she almost had to buy new armour baffled her. Sure she isn't the most courageous member of the 5 wo/men team she thought she'd gotten over her fear of battle a long time ago. However something about this new threat gave off waves of evil like she was wanting to make a point to anyone near her and this evil must have been what scared her so bad. But she couldn't dwell on this now, she needed her mind in the present to try and find a solution to their painful problem.

"Stop arguing you two. That isn't going to help anything." Bootus's and Vivli's bickering had sprung Zinkata out of the trance the destruction had him in. "We need to find the President and hope this juiced up warrior hasn't done anything too rash."

As the group walked towards the metal works building that stands tall and proud in the middle of Bastok more of the carnage could be seen, burnt down buildings, destroyed walls and walk ways, even the fountain hadn't escaped destruction. However the metal works building seemed to be un touched, this gave the group hope that they were in time to save the President.

"I never noticed there were Gargoyles on the metal works building. Fancy." Voldos's seemingly irrelevant spot was at first just another ignored Voldos point, however this one couldn't help but replay again in Bootus and Zinkata's minds.

"Metal works doesn't have any Gargoyles on it!" They both said together confusion in their voices and on their faces.

"Maybe they added while we were away. Probably influenced by Elvaan architecture. Another attempt of you non-Elvaans to try and reach perfection." Spurting Elvaan propaganda was always a good way for Voldos to forget what situation he was in.

"Well unless their moving Gargoyles we might have a problem here." At first Voldos thought Zinkata's time alone had caused mild cabin fever in which caused him to see the previously thought of as Gargoyles move. Unfortunately this wasn't the case, and in either reality Zinkata would have been screwed. As the mysterious beast spread there massive wings a loud screech was let out from all four of them before the swooped down towards the 5 could be heroes.

"Well this isn't good." Voldos's ability to point out the obvious was again demonstrated as many times before

"Stop pointing out the obvious and get ready for battle!" Bootus said while getting into a stance that wasn't the best for fighting, so Bootus not using it to fight but to charge up a chi blast was a good thing. As Bootus cupped his hands together on his left side a blue ball started to form between them. Once the ball was big enough Bootus swiftly moved his cupped hands in front of him, releasing a bright blue beam of energy hurtling towards one of the creatures, now close enough to be identified as Harpies. Luckily for Bootus Harpies weren't schooled in the ways of chi so didn't recognised its destructive potential so didn't try to get out of the way but instead hurtled faster towards it seeing it as a challenge. This lead to its down fall as it was it one of the Harpies full force sending it flying back miles, leaving the other 3 Harpies stunned, but also opened to one of Voldos's arrows piercing another Harpy right threw the right arm, but instead of the Harpy letting out a hurt scream and running away it did the opposite and let out another war cry and sped towards a reloading Voldos. Luckily for Voldos he wasn't facing the enemy on his own this time, and thankfully a lightening bolt sent the Harpy off course into an already trashed building.

"Zinkata you think you can provide cover for me?" Vivli decided it was time to show all of them what she was now capable of.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it!"

With that Zinkata dropped back slightly and putting up a protective barrier around himself and Vivli. A faint glow started to grow stronger behind Zinkata who took a second from watching the charging Harpy to see what it was. At first it seemed like Vivli was just doing another cure spell which didn't need Zinkata's assistance, in fact a cure spell wasn't needed at all unless she was planning on healing the Harpy that was trying to untangle itself from the wrecked building. As Vivli finished Zinkata turned around to expect to have to fight off a Harpy but instead was met with the back of an old bold man in a black coat. It would appear the Harpy wasn't expecting the appearance of the old man and had stopped in her tracks within half a meter of him. However after assessing the new challenger as a frail old man she once more renewed her attack to be met with a massive ball of electricity which sent her flying across the floor slamming into the unusually empty auction house.

On the other side of the fountain Bootus was in a competition of strength against the only Harpy not to have had an ass whooping. As they were joined by the hands trying to find an opening of attack Bootus realised his slight strength advantage, using this and a change of direction Bootus started to spin the Harpy like a hammer in the Vana'diel Olympics. After a couple of circles Bootus let go throwing the Harpy into the side of the metal works building creating a nice indentation of the harpy in the brick wall. With the Harpy stunned Bootus sent a small, yet still powerful, chi blast at the Harpy who recognized it as the same technique that sent her friend into Bastok port. Collecting as much of her awareness as possible the Harpy dived out of the way of the blast letting it create a harmless hole in the side of the metal works building. Seeing this as his best opening of attack Bootus drew his great Katana and prepared to charge the defenceless foe. Or he would have if something hadn't hit him in the side of his head sending him into the fountain with a splash. Looking over to where he used to be Bootus now saw a very angry looking Harpy hovering, obviously wanting her revenge for Bootus's earlier attack. Looking over his shoulder to see how Zinkata was faring he was surprised to see him standing in front of Vivli watching one of the Harpies fighting a random old man in a black coat. The most surprising this was the old man seemed to be pummelling the Harpy with out much trouble. Deciding his battle with now two pissed off Harpies was a bit beyond him, not that he would admit it, he decided to get the help of Zinkata seeing he wasn't as busy as he should have been, them being in a battle and all.

"Instead of standing around doing nothing how about you take on one of these Harpies? The one of the lefts weaker." With this Zinkata realised he was actually supposed to be helping to win this battle instead of watching the battle like it was some sort of paid amusement.

"Oh, yeah sure!"

"For the love of the king! Why wont this thing die!" Exclaimed Voldos as a fifth arrow pierced the Harpies skin. It would seem that lightening bolts weren't anymore effective in bring the she-devil down either. This led to a much pissed off Voldos using one of his special arrows. As Voldos shot his piercing arrow towards the Harpy Bollo sent up a fire ball. The piercing arrow hit it's mark and was sent right threw it's heart. At the same time the fire ball also hit causing the Harpy to fall to the group, defiantly dead this time! However Voldos and Bollo's victory was cut short as a glow surrounded the Harpy, lifting it off the floor and putting the now fully revived Harpy back on its feet.

"Uh guys. We have a problem." Voldos having seen the effects of raise before quickly came to the realisation that somewhere a white mage was going to keep the Harpies alive to fight as long as the adventurers were alive.

"What did I tell you about pointing out the obvious?" Bootus shouted towards Voldos while countering one of the Harpies attacks.

"No! We have a new problem!"

"What?"

"There's a mage keeping the Harpies alive!"

"… Well that'll explain how this one recovered so quickly!"

"So what are we going to do now?" Vivli only having to summon in the battle was free to listen in on the increasingly disturbing conversation.

"The only thing we can do. Fall back!" Zinkata wise in his knowledge of running away, an old thief habit.

With a cry of "God dammit!" Bootus put both of his hands in front of his producing another blue ball. However when he shot it instead of a beam it was just the ball that left his hands, exploding in the Harpies face on contact.

"Re-group at sunshine mountain!" Now free from the Harpies attack for a couple of seconds was given enough time to think about the retreat order.

With Voldos and Bollo far enough away from their Harpy they decided to comply with the retreat order sooner rather than later, only being chased by the Harpy up until the South Gate. With Vivli without a challenger she also made her way to South Gate, recalling her summon at the last possible moment. This left Zinkata and Bootus fighting off 4 Harpies while slowly making their way to the gate. Thanks to a strong protect spell by Zinkata and a few chi blasts from Bootus they also managed to make it out of Bastok and to Sunshine mountain, only suffering a few cuts and bruises.

"So what do we do now?" Vivli asked, being the first one to come to terms with their recent defeat.

"I suppose there's only one thing to do. With this crazed women now having taken over Bastok there's no telling what she's going to do next. We have to go to Jeuno and report this to the Grand Duke!"


	5. The adventure train

**Chapter 5 - The adventure train**

"HA! Even if we did manage to get to see the Arch Duke he wouldn't give a damn!" Bootus saw his views on Jeuno's peacefully ways as realistic, not pessimistic

"What would you suggest then? Try and take back Bastok ourselves?" Vivli wanted to get as far away from the spreading evil she felt coming from Bastok.

"Probably be more point full. We'll travel half way across the world just to be laughed at, hell if you just want to be laughed at I can do it right now!" With that Bootus stuck out a finger aimed at Zinkata and gave out a mock laugh.

"That isn't helpful" The unimpressed look on Zinkata's face gave away the emotion his voice wasn't willing to give up. "Sure there's a chance we might get turned away and in the case we'd just have to go to San d'Oria and Windurst for help. Either way we can't do this on our own. We need help from somewhere."

Before Zinkata's turning to the good side of society he had been the unofficial leader, being the one with the best abilities to be the leader of a group of adventurers. He was sensible, he had rational thinking, he could make tough decisions and he could keep calm in some of the more hectic situations. However them thinking themselves as more of a democratic group they all liked to think they were joint leaders, but knew that if it came down to it they'd allow Zinkata leadership of the group.

"Humph. Fine. But don't come crying to me when they throw your ass in prison for harassing the Duke." Even when Bootus was backing down he managed to make it seem he wasn't. One of those little traits that seemed to anger Vivli.

"Has anyone else noticed the darkness only surrounding Bastok?" Voldos being an un-confrontational being usually sat out the arguments only getting involved when someone is being obviously stupid or because they've forgotten about his obvious perfection. For this reason Voldos had been sitting on the edge of the cliff with Bollo noticing the ever darkening shadow around Bastok.

"That's strange. Wonder if it has something to do with that lady." Still nameless the group made their own choices on what to call the new evil, some were more polite than others.

"It's like Bastok is being covered by a shadow …" Zinkata was starting to guess what it was, but didn't have the heart to tell the others of his theory.

"It is a shadow. The bitch is probably trying to bring forth the shadow lord, or maybe she IS the shadow lord!" However Bootus did. Well not so much as having heart but Bootus preferred to be frank and straight to the point.

"If that's so then the quicker we get to Jeuno the better. That and the longer we stay here the more we tempt an attack." Vivli having found the excuse she need to get the group moving took it with great enthusiasm.

"Heh. What's the hurry? Scared?" Bootus couldn't resist to taunt Vivli even in dire situations like this.

"NO! I told you why! Now lets go before I push the big oaf off this damn cliff." With that Vivli stormed off down the mountain, a slightly annoyed expression on her face, leaving Bootus to bask in another victory over Vivli.

Once the group had made their way to Konschtat Highlands they decided to make camp and rest for their arduous journey ahead. Not one that would be new to them however. They've taken this journey many times before. The first time was on a mission for Bastok to try and open relations between the 3 great nations. This was also the first time they visited Jeuno.

As the group huddled around the fire, with Bollo playing a harmonious melody on his flute, it occurred to Vivli that this was the first time they had shared a camp fire together in a year and this brought a smile on her face. As today had shown something bad always happened when she was with the group of friends however she always felt safer with them. This comforted her after the ordeal she had just been through. Lost in her thoughts, the fire warming her body and music soothing her mind she fell asleep curled up, head resting on Zinkata's lap.

"Has anyone else noticed how Li always sleeps on Zinkata when we're sleeping?" Something that Bootus had noticed awhile ago he'd decided not to put this to the group, seeing if he could see whether or not there was something more going on between the two when Vivli was awake.

"Awwww is Zini sweet on Li?" This was teasing Voldos couldn't resist.

"What? No! Just being nice … ground is cold, gives her something warm and comfortable to rest on."

"Then why are you blushing?" Voldos was now on all fours in front of Zinkata to get a better look at Zinkata's now rosy cheeks. Zinkata tried to get away as much as he could, but could only lean back as he didn't want to wake Vivli. Mainly because he didn't want her to hear the taunting and get ideas about Zinkata's affections, but also he knew how grouchy Vivli could be when she just wakes up.

"Blushing? I, I, I'm not blushing. Just hot is all. I'm too close to the fire. Yeah the fire's too hot." By now Bootus and Bollo were in hysterics, rolling on the floor.

"Then why don't you move back? Or are you enjoying her on your crotch?" Voldos's playful taunting stepped up a gear

"Whu? I, um, eh, uh." Zinkata stuttered trying to think of something to say. "I just don't want to wake Vivli. You know how she gets when you wake her." Zinkata smiled nervously while scratching the back of his head with his right hand.

"Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure. Well I say we leave the love birds alone and go sleep by the Crag of Dem." With that Voldos got up and headed to the Crag, followed by the laughing Bootus and Bollo, leaving Zinkata and Vivli alone.

"But .. No… I …oh lizard poop!" Zinkata was starting to worry. Usually everyone was around when Vivli was using him as a glorified pillow so Zinkata could take his mind off the sleeping Mithra by talking with the guys. However now he was left alone with only Vivli and the glowing fire. The only thing Zinkata could do was try to sleep and forget about the new situation, maybe thinking about the disastrous situation Bastok in could take his mind off it, or what they were going to do now and the… however his thoughts kept going back to the women curled up on his lap. For Zinkata this was going to be a long night.


	6. The morning after

**Chapter 6 - The morning after**

"_We're not going to make it you know?"_

"_Why are you like that?"_

"_Like what?"_

"_Always looking on the downside of things. Always having that uptight better than you attitude. It doesn't help anyone. Especially in situations like this."_

"_Hey! I'm just seeing the situation for what it is! No need to get personal."_

"_We'll be fine …. Help will come soon."_

"_I wont hold my breath. No point dying before my time."_

As Bootus opened his eyes, facing the clear blue sky of the richly vegetated highlands, the nights dream started to fade away leaving a moment of bliss before his memories came rushing back to him. Some how darkening the sky.

Looking to his right Bootus saw Voldos standing by the Crag of Dem relieving himself on the colossal structure.

"If the someone told the people who built this that sometime in the future their proudest creation would be used as a glorified toilet to some stuck up idiot elf, I'm sure they'd laugh at them before having them arrested for plots to defile the construction."

"Pfft. If they didn't want it to be used as a toilet they should have made sure that it would always be in use through out time."

"I'm sure there's some Elvaan logic in there somewhere." Bootus knew it was pointless to inform Voldos that something being unused doesn't mean it can be used as a toilet. Smiling to himself he looked to the right to see whether or not Bollo was awake, but the Taru wasn't were he had been when Bootus had drifted off to sleep. Looking round he saw a small shadow sitting up ahead, watching the sun rise. Getting up Bootus walked over to where Bollo was sitting.

"It'll be ok. We'll get help and save whatever is left of Bastok." It was obvious what was on Bollo's mind that even Voldos could probably notice.

"Its just … if it is the shadow lord I don't think we'll have a chance of victory. The nations are to concerned with their own petty battles that I don't think we'll be able to defeat it this time."

"Though the armies might not be what they were adventurers like us will take up the calling instead. Anyway I'm sure that the 4 nations joined together could easily thwart the evil bastard."

"Hmmm"

"Come on. Getting all thoughtful and depressed about it isn't going to help anyone. Soon as Zinkata and Vivli are up we'll get going to Selbina."

"Ok"

Unbeknownst to Bootus Zinkata was already up and had been for at least an hour. Usually Zinkata didn't mind waking Vivli up, mainly because Zinkata planned to wake everyone else up as well and get them moving on. But after last night some deep seeded feelings had been awoken in Zinkata and after waking up to notice Vivli happily resting on him he couldn't bring himself to wake her. When they first met Vivli had warn her hair quite short, putting what little hair she did have in pig tails. Now as a young women she had let her hair grow and usually let her hair down, hugging her smooth cheeks and resting on her shoulders. Now her hair rested across Zinkatas lap, reaching up his stomach towards his chest. Zinkata had spent the better part of the hour noticing little things like the freckles on her nose, and how she sometimes purred in her sleep. But all this was disturbed when Bootus's thunderous steps ruined the moment, bringing Zinkata back to reality and realising that after the night before him looking googly eyed at Vivli wasn't a good idea. So pretending to just waking up he begin the generic just woken up stretches and yawns, this in turn woke up Vivli who did the same.

"Wake up love birds we've still got a lot of ground to cover before we get to Selbina, let alone Jeuno."

"Love birds? What are you talking about?" Vivli having been asleep before the nights discussion was unaware of the new Zinkata Vivli love theory.

"Uh, he's just messing with you like always Vivli. Pay no attention to him." Zinkatas jittery defence brought a smile to Bootus's.

"Why are we going to Selbina anyway? Wouldn't it be quicker to just go through Rolenberry fields?" Vivli's defiance towards Bootus had been practised so much that it appeared to happen on an instinctive level.

"Not really. Boat will take about a day to get to Mhaul where we'll take the day walk to Windurst where we will rent some chocobos which will get us to Jeuno in about a day and a half. Where the Rolenberry way will take at least 5 days, that's not calculating the battles. Beastman are quite vicious in the Jeuno area."

"Yeah, yeah. Fine." When defiance is being used on an instinctive level the cognitive part of the brain is usually bypassed meaning that the situation is never thought through enough, which in the case of Vivli meant she usually asked questions on something that Bootus had already thought through causing Bootus to come off looking knowledgeable and in this case, organised.

"So lets not make this trip take longer than needed by spending all morning making lovey eyes at each other."

"What about breakfast? I haven't eaten in almost 30 hours!" Vivli's stomach had been noticeably rumbling for sometime now. In fact one of her dreams had been about food.

"We'll get something at Selbina, now get a move on."

Once everyone had picked gathered there things the group of adventurers were once again on there way to Jeuno via Selbina.

Selbina was a nice quiet port town where most of the inhabitants made their money by fishing or trading. The traders made there money by adventurers coming into the town to use the boat that did twice daily trips to Mhaul. Even with the booming business of the travel agency the town still kept its air of tranquillity and peace.

"When I retire remind me to get a place here." This wasn't lost on Bootus

"Adventurers can retire?" Voldos's thoughts of the future mainly consisted of him fighting have having sex with some sexy maiden.

"Course. It's when we get too old to hold our weapons anymore so decide to stop and just settle down and enjoy the peace if life."

"If that's the definition of retirement I think Vivli's already retired."

"Hey! I can hold my weapon thank you!"

"Sure you can!"

"Damn you Elvaans!"

"Quickly guys. The boats just arriving." Zinkatas usual method of not getting into the childish arguments of the others by concentrating on something more important, whether or not the boat is at the dock or not for one.

"But what about breakfast?" Vivli's stomach had been annoying her throughout the trip to Selbina.

"Li. They sell food on the boat." Bootus's love of humiliating Vivli, no matter how small a humiliation, usually meant he got in with the joke or fact at her expense. However this time it was Zinkata there first. Though not to humiliate her, he just wanted to get on the boat as fast as possible.


	7. Yo ho ahoy

**Chapter 7 - Yo ho ahoy**

"That's your fifth bowl!" Zinkata couldn't believe how a small Mithra like Vivli could have eaten 5 large bowls of noodles without throwing up. It was like watching someone try and fill a bottomless pit. And no matter how many times Zinkata saw it he still couldn't get over it. He was sort of glad when they were out in the fields with only enough food to stop the rumblings and he didn't have to be subjected to the horrors that were Vivli's eating habits.

"I told you I was hungry! Now unless your willing to buy me noodles go shut up and go away."

Zinkata heeded Vivlis advice and headed up to the deck where Bootus, Bollo and Voldos were most probably looking over the edge and seeing whose spit could hit the ocean first.

Before he had even opened the double doors leading to the ship deck he could hear the familiar voice of Voldos and by the tune it would seem like some poor young women was getting an ear full of corny lines from the 7th layer of chat up line hell, with the odd visit from a line from the 8th layer. But what he saw when he went through the doors surprised him into almost tripping over himself. There stood Voldos, with his fast becoming world renowned chatting up smirk, looking at Bootus. Thankfully Bootus didn't seem to be looking at Voldos any differently, defiantly not with love or admiration.

"What's going on here?" Zinkata hoped to have caught the two in courtship and exchange it for them to never mention the Zinkata Vivli love theory ever again.

"I'm just showing Mr. No romance a few of my best, most romantic, chat up lines." At the line romantic Voldos had done a fancy twirl which ended when he had gotten within a couple of inches of Zinkata.

"So far he's made me feel dirty, used and sorry for the female portion of the population. You think its bad when you just hear him saying it to some female, its 10 times worse when its you, and slightly disturbing when you start to think he might actually be trying to chat you up." Bootus's species was only made up of one gender, male, so being chatted up was a new thing for him and Voldos being the first person to have ever done it most probably left lingering psychological scares.

"Pfft. One more line and I would have had you in my arms ready to do my every whim." At this moment Voldos's chat up lines pride was at risk so the thought that he was putting his masculinity and sexuality at risk didn't come into Voldos's mind.

" That's just disturbing. Don't speak for the rest of eternity or I might have to do something I already said Bootus could do." Zinkata now realised the errors of his question and decided to repent this sin by changing the subject entirely.

"Heh. So how's Vivli?" Zinkata had hoped the conversation had gone onto a discussion on the many ways to kill Voldos, not a conversation on Vivli. No matter how innocent the question might have seemed Zinkata could instinctively tell the underlining motive behind it.

"Uh she's fine. Probably on her 7th bowl by now. How someone so little can eat so much I'll never know."

"Well as long she's quiet and not pestering me it's a good thing."

After 47 minutes of watching the ocean go by and Voldos trying to convince the other 3 that his chat up lines were the best ever and that he could snare any girl he wanted with them when Vivli made her way up to the deck having finally finished eating.

"Well she finally manages to pull her face out of a bowl of noodles to join us." Voldos was only the first to notice due to all ready facing the door.

"And I think she spent the time getting pregnant! Look at that belly!" Bootus had already thought of what he was going to say to Vivli when she had been below deck for 30 minutes.

"I AM NOT FAT!" The raised voice made sure that everyone on the boat looked towards Vivli, even the people below deck were looking in her general direction. "And for you information I haven't been spending all my time eating. I met a nice guy and got talking." The four male adventurers faces reacted in different ways. Voldos had a look of confusion, Bootus simply raised an eyebrow even though he was confused as Voldos, Bollo's face suddenly lifted with joy and happiness while Zinkata's had a look of complete shock.

"Vivli's got herself a boye-woye friend." Bollo being the one who didn't need the rest of time to process this new information was the first to comment.

"Whu? No he's not my boyfriend. We were just talking." Though she was telling the truth, Vivli's blush gave away that she wished for a little bit more.

"Aw has little Vivli started noticing boys?" Bootus's comment patronising did convey a certain encouragement.

"Excuse me? I've been noticing boys for years!" Like Voldos, Vivli's defences sometimes left something else primed for the mocking.

"Oh. So you're a bit of a noticing whore are you?" And Bootus always liked to exploit these openings

" … God I hate .."

"So who is he?" Bollo could see where this was going so decided to step in with a more Vivli friendly question.

"His names Milliano. He's a Warrior and so dream… he's nice." All through Vivli's description of Milliano she had a dreamy smile conveying some of her true feelings towards her new friend.

"So that's what love looks like … Love's over rated." As unlikely as it might seem Vivli's love stained face was the first time Bootus had actually seen love. Being a Galka Bootus doesn't have the ability to love like most humans, Mithra, Elvaans and Tarutaru's, though can create motional attachments.

"I'd hate to ruin the moment … actually Li's lovey-dovey ness is kinda disturbing" Voldos might have been shocked, and slightly weirded out, but the massive ship slowly getting nearer was something he thought needed to be brought to the rest of their attentions.

"Yeah it's all great and lovely to ruin a moment as long as you have something to ruin it with." Bootus was starting to enjoy mocking Vivli over this previously un-trodden avenue of life and start to learn what love was, instead of Voldos's shame of an example.

"Hmmm? Oh yeah. Pirate ship closing … I mean boarding us."

"Ar me arties. I think ye be handing over ye gill and any other valuables for that matter." The pirate captain was noticeable by his big captain hat and coat where the rest of his crew wore thin shirts and shorts which were more practical for tackling the daily tasks needed to be taken care of on a pirate ship.

"This is one of those situations that you should notify us early instead of waiting for the last moment." Bootus hoped that in continuously pointing out Voldos's faults might teach him to improve. So far this method hasn't worked.

"Hey! I was too busy being traumatised by Li's disturbing show of affection."

"It is not disgusting! Your blatant disregard and lack of respect for the female gender of the species is what's disgusting."

"Excuse me. Yea we be robbin' ya so I'd appreciate it if ye pay us some attention and hand over ye goods."

"Oh shut up! Your not intimidating. Everyone knows pirates are just a group of homosexual men hiding from society and using situational homosexuality as an excuse to practise their sexuality." Bootus nto having a sexual preference himself any sexuality was alien to him and he'd learnt to except them all, so he was in no way homophobic, he just hated being disturbed when there was a good opportunity for mocking Vivli.

"I shall take your possessions off yer dead corpse matey."

"I'd like to see you try pretty boy."

"Crows nest. Take him out."

With the pirate captains orders up stepped a Galka, standing a good 4 inches taller than Bootus, drawing a cutlass with a massive smile on his face. However before he could take a 4 steps forward Bootus lept forward knocking his cutlass flying out of his hand then proceeding to force his left fist into the over grown Galka's stomach bringing the giant down to his knees.

Meanwhile the cutlass that was flung out of Crows nest's hands was hurtling towards Vivli's head. Seemingly aimed to kill.

"VIVLI!"


	8. Damsals and pirates

**Chapter 8 - Damsals and pirates**

Vivli always thought that when you were about to die your life would rush before your eyes then you'd end up in the heavens waiting for judgement. The true experience of death was nothing like this however. Instead of her life flashing before her eyes she found only the back of her eye lids as she shut them tight, head in heads bent over, not a very heroic death pose. As Vivli stood crouched over eyes shut tight the first thing to go through her mind was: 'God this is taking its time.' Then she thought of the possibility of her being dead and at this moment in heaven. Taking this hope she opened her eyes to see something brown and scaly. Looking further up she notice brown hair, which brought her to the conclusion that someone was standing in front of her, most probably the person who had saved her life, that is if she was still alive and not just in the line to be judged. As the towering figure fell backwards onto Vivli she realised this wasn't heaven, she was still on the ship and for some reason some guy with brown scale armour had fallen on her.

"Arrr get them! Kill ever last one of them!" Vivli recognised this as the pirate captain who had boarded their ship.

Noticing the words Kill Vivli decided to get out from under the vertically challenged warrior and help her friends to get rid of the pirates before anyone got hurt. But unbeknownst to Vivli someone had already been hurt, presumed dead. In her daze of her near death experience she had forgotten all about what caused her to be near death in the first place and going on like any other normal battle.

The fight had developed from Bootus punching up the pirate Galka and now had Zinkata and Voldos joining in with Bollo giving some help by giving the pirates something extra to try and defend from. Bootus was still going one on with the Galka, though Bootus' superior hand to hand combat was easily defeating Crows nest, now and again looking like he could actually make a punch but that's just Bootus playing around with him.

The pirate captain having noticed the losing battle decided to take the under handed pirate way of winning battles: Kidnap the girl. The girl being Vivli. So while Vivli was surveying the battle the captain snuck up behind Vivli, put his hand to her mouth and something against her head.

"ALL RIGHT NOBODY MOVE!"

This caused the desired effect as everyone stopped in mid battle to see why the sea captain had stopped their battle.

"Alright now. Me and me crew …" As the captain was speaking Bootus through Crows nest over the edge.

"… Ok me and me crew minus Crows nest …" Taking Bootus's lead Voldos and Zinkata proceeded to through the other pirates, still under the order to not move, over the edge.

" … Fine … I'll be taking the girl back to me ship. Try and stop me and they be a bullet going through the maidens head arrr." The captain finally getting his threat out smiled at the finally still adventurers, who he thought would be conceding.

"I think we should stop him." Bootus wasn't one to follow conventions and decided to take this opportunity to show this.

"I duno. Kinda riskay." Though seemingly previously choreographed Voldos was just putting forward his idea. "Sure we could probably take him down before he shot Vivli, but if we were to make one mistake then she's dead."

"I think that's a risk we should be willing to make."

"So Vivli's life is risk we're willing to make trying to save her life?"

"Pretty much."

"SHUT UP! Be serious about this! Vivli's life is in danger here and you two are making jokes! Just shut up and do what the Captain …"

"Flavio"

"Captain Flavio says and hopefully spare Vivli's life." Zinkata drew the line at Bootus making jokes when someone's life was in mortal danger, especially seeing it was Vivli's life that was in danger, and for the 2nd time in the space of 5 minutes Zinkata had found himself helpless while Vivli was in danger and Bootus's joking wasn't helping.

"Finally someone with some sense around here." Flavio knowing that his escape was now assured slowly edged himself and Vivli closer to his ship.

"Love to say I had fun … but I got no booty and lost my crew … so I didn't. Oh and for compensation for the crew I'm taking the girl." Flavio jumped back onto his ship Vivli on hand.

"Goodbye all. Have a nice day." With those last words Flavio's ship started to float away from the cruise vessel.

"We gotta go after-wafter that ship!"

"Why don't you just shoot it?" Bootus with the violent course of action.

"No good Vivli will sink with them." Zinkata was still thinking about Vivli's well fare

"Yeah but they wont be moving. If we lose them now we'll never get her back."

" … Sink that ship Bollo!"

Bollo sent a lightening bolt for the pirate ship, hitting the sails making them tumble to the deck below, stopping the ship.

" I was expecting it to explode leaving Flavio and Vivli in the water so we can just go collect them … but that's a good way to." Though a bit disappointed Bootus found solace in the outcome.

"Captain! Turn this ship to the right." Next thing to happen was they had to go the immobilised ship and collect Vivli and Flavio.

"No can do sonny. You're not the only ones on this ship and we have a deadline to meet."

Zinkata's jaw dropped at the captains lack of compassion and one tracked mindedness.

"We gotta do something. We wont be able to see them soon."

Picking up Zinkata, Bootus lifted him above his head and through him the few meters to the pirate ship, just getting him to the side of the boat where Zinkata just had to do a bit of climbing to get to the deck.

"Nice arm … but how are they going to get back?" Voldos marvelling at Bootus's plan also noticed what he thought was a flaw.

"They drive the boat stupid."

"It has no sails." And it appeared that he had found a flaw.

" … rowing boat .." But Bootus managed to save his dignity just in time.

Over on the pirate ship Zinkata was ready to face off with Flavio. However Bootus had forgotten one other thing in his quick planning: Flavio had a gun.

"God damn you Bootus!" Zinkata wasn't happy

"Rash and foolish. Just what I'd expect from a Galka. All brawn no brain." Flavio was trying to flaunt his intellect which appeared superior to Bootus's.

"Other than the boarding, planning to kill me, then kidnapping me, this guy isn't too bad." Vivli once more finding her sense of humour, and Flavio having removed his gloved hand from her mouth, decided to throw in a bit of humour to lighten the situation.

"Well at least your alright Vivli." Zinkata still concerned with Vivli's well fare.

"All things considering I'm not doing to badly."

"Enough with the pleasantries. Shiney armour take a bath." Flavio made the universal 'go that way' motion with his gun hinting that he wanted Zinkata to go over the edge of the boat. As Zinkata complied with Flavio's wishes it seemed that Vivli's hope for rescue had ended. Zinkata going off the edge seemed to permanently end her hope for rescue.

With the danger of rescue away Flavio let Vivli go to give her, her first real good look at the Pirate captain. Vivli found him surprisingly quite attractive. Standing quite tall for a hume, wearing a long flowing red coat trimmed with gold, matching hat, brown gloves, white trousers and black high boots all topped off with a hansom face sporting some red stubble.

"You do notice I just need to do is just summon Garudo and your dead, I'm saved and everything ends happily ever after, don't you?" Vivli gained her composure and foolishly told Flavio her best plan to escape.

"I'd shoot you before ye even finished your flashy little summoning. Now sit down, be quite and enjoy the ride."

"Shut up you scurvy ridden homo!" Instead of falling into the sea Zinkata had managed to grab hold of a porthole and then scramble back up, this time waiting for the right time to attack. This was a good time as Zinkata's fist sent Flavio flying off the edge of the ship.

"Nice daring rescue. I suppose this makes you my hero." Giving Zinkata a kiss on the cheek she proceeded to the rowing boat, seemingly she had figured out the best way of escape in her summoning plan. Zinkata was left standing on deck staring blankly at the angry pirate coming toward him brandishing his sword ready to kill Zinkata. But Zin didn't care. He was too caught up on Vivli's kiss. Thankfully for Zinkata Vivli had noticed and had come to Zinkata's rescue by placing her staff in the pirates stomach, causing him to double over with pain.

"Well I've managed to repay my debt earlier than I thought I was going to. Doesn't that make me your hero as well? That mean I get a kiss to?" Flirting down Vivli proceeded to the rowing boat once more leaving poor Zinkata even more stunned than before.

"You coming Zinkata or you going to just stay on this ship going no where fast?" Having brought out of his trance Zinkata proceeded to the rowing boat to hopefully manage to somehow catch up with the other boat and the others.


	9. Merrily,merrily life is but a dream

**Chapter 9 - Merrily, merrily life is but a dream.**

"Hopefully-wopfully they'll make it back safey-wafey" Bollo said breaking the silence as the 3 looked out to sea seeing nothing as the boat had sailed out of view.

"I'm sure they'll be fine. I mean the crew wasn't competent so I doubt the captain was any better." Bootus said reassuringly

"Yeah but he did manage to kidnap Vivli." Voldos reminded Bootus

"Ah yes but that wasn't due to incompetence it was due to Vivli's incompetence." Bootus replied, reassuring Bollo of their, mostly Zinkata's, competence and general ability to kick ass.

"Makes sense I suppose." Voldos said as he turned back to look towards the horizon.

"Could you row faster?" Vivli was restless and bored. The adrenaline that had been released during her kidnapping still remained in her blood stream which made her body and mind in the need to do something, however this was not possible if she remained confined to the rowing boat. Unless she wanted to capsize the boat most probably killing both her and Zinkata. Luckily for Zinkata she didn't.

"If I rowed faster I'd get worn out faster meaning after a couple of minutes we'd be going slower than our current speed to eventually stop so I can have a break." Sometimes Zinkata could see why Bootus used to dislike Vivli ad nowadays constantly make fun of her. Unfortunately these times came when they were alone. This got Zinkata thinking about his attraction for her. Was it just physical? Or was it the fact that Vivli was the only female non-family member Zinkata really knew. Looking towards her he decided that yes she was attractive. Very attractive. But how about personality wise? He defiantly liked her general attitude of kindness and being loving towards all the people she met. Except Bootus, but there are circumstances to that. The part he didn't like was her childishness. Zinkata put this down to the sheltered life she led. Vivli had once told the group, notably when Bootus wasn't there, that she had spent her life in a cathedral with a few other orphans learning the ways of white magic and religion. She only ventured out to the gardens until she was 12 where she went out with a high priestess to the town for supplies. She didn't even see a male of any species till 16! So Zinkata could forgive her for this. Unfortunately this didn't make it any less annoying.

"You do know that bodies going to start smelling soon don't you? Especially in this heat." Voldos had turned away from the sea to take a look at the ship. This is when he remembered Vivli's saviour.

"Hmmmm? Oh yeah. The body. I had completely forgotten about that in the whole fighting and kidnapping. Suppose we had better get rid of it."

So Bootus went across the deck, picked up the lifeless corps ready to through it over the edge.

"Wait a moment!" Bollo called after Bootus. "Shouldn't we give him some kind of service-wervice? I mean he did risk his life to save Vivli."

"Good point …wonder who he is any way."

"Warrior, young, good looking. I'd say it was Vivli's new love interest … what's his name?" Voldos replied to Bootus's question with observation that though characteristic of a ranger it was out of character for Voldos.

"Milliano." Bollo had been the only one interested or not in a state of shock when Vivli had been discussing the new man in her life.

"Well what do you want to do? He is actually bleeding all over me at this moment." Bootus said seemingly cold but with Milliano dead Bootus wasn't exactly going to hurt his feelings.

"Say a few words. You were a Monk remember. Didn't learn about religious ceremonies?" All Voldos knew about Bootus's Monk job was that he could do a lot of damage.

"Your thinking of Priest Monks. I'm a fighter Monk." Bootus filled the other two in on the situation.

"Surely you can do some kind of ceremony? Though not a Priest Monk you're still best qualified." Voldos wanted the poor guy who had given his life so readily a proper ceremony. For this reason he didn't want to be the one to do it.

"Fine. I'll give him a funeral service. But only the short version. He did save Vivli remember." The real reason was that Bootus never bothered, so didn't know the proper version.

"We are gathered here today to say farewell to Milliano and to commit him into the hands of the Gods. We thank the Gods for the life that they give us. It is full of work and responsibility, of sorrow and joy. Today we thank you for Milliano, for what he has given and received. Help us in our mourning and teach us to live for the living in the time that is still left to us. Thank you for eternal life that can give life and joy to our days and years already here on Earth.

"Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust. I commend his life to the sea and give him passage to the next life. Amen"

"Amen"

"Amen"

With the respect the young warrior deserved Bootus dropped his body into the sea. A silent minute of reflection was about to be started, the other adventurers and merchants travelling on the ship who had bared witness to Milliano's sacrifice had stood with Voldos and Bollo, even the captain considered it until he noticed Mhaura and decided to tell the passengers of this.

"We are now in Mhaura everyone. Please collect all of your belongings and prepare to depart. On behalf of Vana'deil sails I'd like to thank everyone for sailing with us and apologies for the earlier inconvenience."

While annoyed with the captains disrespect Bootus decided to let it go and just get off the boat. They'd hopefully be in Jeuno before to long and start to sort out the mess that had befallen Bastok.

Finally on stable non-rocking ground the 3 adventurers heaved a sigh of relief. That was until a familiar voice was heard.

"VOLDOS! Is that truly you?"

"Oh no. Please don't let it be …" Voldos's despair was realised as a tallish man in his late 20's in dark armour ran up to Voldos and gave him a hug.

"Hello Fred." Voldos said putting in as much enthusiasm as was possible in the situation.

"It is so good to see you again! How have you been?" Fred on the other hand was extremely excited at seeing the adventurer who he appeared to know, but not well liked by Voldos.

"Good thank you Fred." Voldos said in the same monotone voice he used for the greeting. He had hoped Fred would one day notice his lack of liking towards him one day . So far he had, had no luck.

"And how are you little Bollo." Fred said this while leaning down and giving him a little pat on the head. Unlike Voldos Bollo liked Fred and replied with a response that reflected this.

"I'm super-wuper thank you Freddy! How have you been?"

"Oh same old, same old." Fred replied while standing up to meet Bootus. "And how are you ya big lug?"

"I'm good thanks. That's possibly because I'm having a break from Vivli." Bootus said shaking Fred's hand a smile on his face. Bootus also liked Fred. Mainly due to how uncomfortable he made Voldos.

"Where is Vivli? And Zinkata for that matter." Fred asked more concerned for Zinkata than Vivli.

"Oh she got kidnapped so Zinkata went and saved her."

"Oh he is such a brave person." Fred answered seemingly have forgotten the Vivli part of the story. "Anyway I had better be off or I'll miss my boat. I'll see you guys alter. Bye Voldos." After giving Voldos a good-bye hug he was off with 4 other adventurers who had previously been standing a little away from the group.

"With any luck a competent band of pirates will come along and kill him."

"Awwwww Voldy-woldy not like freddy-weddy?" Said Bootus being as patronising as it was possible for any species.

"Shut up." Voldos said not impressed in the least.

"What did ever happen between you two?" Bootus asked he question that was always asked after a Voldos-Fred confrontation.

"Shut up"

"You two use to be so close. Then one day he just up and left giving no explanation and you were pissed off at him for 3 weeks."

"I SAID SHUT UP!" Voldos had reached the end of his tether as he always did in this discussion.

"So what are we going to doey-woey?" Asked Bollo

"Wait I guess."


	10. Home stretch

**Chapter 10: Home stretch**

After a few hours, and several card games, the small rowing boat could be seen coming over the horizon.

"Is that them now?" Asked Bollo excitedly getting up from the floor.

"Probably. I doubt many rowing boats would be pulling into the Vana'diel sail's private docking bay." Replied Bootus collecting together all the cards and putting them back in a compartment he had in his armour.

"Finally! Zin ain't as strong as he looks." Voldos said while standing beside Bollo watching Zinkata row the boat to shore.

As the rowing boat hit shore both of its passengers were of it in a hurry. Vivli being the first off almost capsizing the boat with Zinkata still in it.

"Ah, good to be back on solid ground." Vivli said Looking up to the sky with her eyes closed, even though the sky was there while she was on the rowing boat this seemed like the right thing to do when back on solid ground.

"How was your trip?" Asked Bootus a sly smile on his face.

"Tiring!" Zinkata replied his face backing up his statement.

"We staying in Mhaura for the night then?" Asked Voldos hopeful to get some sleep. Not that his journey to Mhaura had been tiring, he was just slightly on the lazy side.

"No. We need to carry on. We can probably get to the mountains before resting. So get everything together and lets go people." With that said Zinkata warily headed out of Mhaura followed by the rest of the party.

Ahrpahgo pass wasn't the most comfortable of places to rest for the night, jagged and not so jagged rocks and stones littered the floor, various plants of beauty and danger were all around as well as the lizards and Mandragora patrolling the area. However being adventurers they had known worse.

"So what are we actually going to say if we see the Grand Duke?" Asked Bootus as they all huddled around the camp fire. Bollo, Vivli and Voldos already asleep.

"Just tell him the situation and ask for assistance getting Bastok back into Bastokian hands." Replied Zinkata, having gone over the forthcoming events in his this was an easy question to answer.

"And what do you think he'll say?"

"I honestly don't know Bootus. I hope that he'll send out an army, rally San d'Oria and Windurst to take out this evil threat." Zinkata said tired and worn out by the events of the past few days. He had forgotten what adventuring can be like.

"That's a big hope. We might as well just go to each country ourselves and try and convince them ourselves. We could even start tomorrow with Windurst." Bootus was still pessimistic about the plan.

"No. I have faith in the Duke. I'm sure he'll be as worried and passionate about the situation as we are."

"Fine. All I'm going to say is don't hold you breath. And for Bastoks sake I hope I wont be saying I told u so. Good-night Zin"

"Night."

With Bootus asleep Zinkata was left on his own, the glow of the fire lighting his face. Despite his tiredness and exhaustion Zinkata still found it hard to sleep when many lives could be depending on him.

With the morning came the sun and sun beams which pierce the eye lids of the most heavy sleepers forcing them awake and to face the coming day.

"Breakfast!" Exclaimed Vivli in a groggy zombie like monotone.

"Bacon or sausages?" Asked Bollo, the party chef.

"I'll have sausage please." Replied Vivli yawning and rubbing sleep out of her eyes. "We the last to eat?"

"Yup. Seems your adventure-wenture yesterday tired you out." Bollo replied while giving Vivli 3 Dhalmel sausages rapped in Taru bred.

"Heh. That or she's just naturally lazy." Came the booming voice of Bootus returning to camp to make sure everybody was packed and ready to continue to Windurst.

"Eating. Shut up!" Vivli said not looking up from her breakfast.

"Morning sunshine! You recovered from your escapade now? Personally I'm surprised you haven't been kidnapped before." Bootus said helping Bollo to serve himself his breakfast and put out the fire. To this Vivli only mumbled something neither adventurer was able to hear.

After the dirty hard terrain of Ahrpahgo pass the party was happy to see the lush beautiful green fields of West Sabutabaruta was a fresh of breath air, as well as the nice fresh air now hitting their faces instead of being blocked by the circle of mountains.

The final trek to Windurst was a pleasant one. Vivli and Bollo skipped most of the way there happily singing a tune with the more masculine fighters smiling and chatting to themselves. The Yagudo mainly tried to stay out of the way of the adventurers, seeing their shininess intimidated them. However the ones who did brave it, maybe from a dare from one their Yagudo buddies, was easily taken down without much trouble, even for Vivli. It seemed that the troubles had all but been forgotten with the site of the beautiful fields. However in truth it was just away for the adventurers to pretend that there were no troubles, to lighten their hearts and shoulders.

Once at Windurst the adventurers went about getting some supplies then headed to the chocobos stables for a speedier trip to Jeuno.

"I don't suppose you'll reconsider? Save us a trip and money." Asked Bootus one final time while about to pay for his chocobos.

"Nope." Zinkata boosted himself on his newly acquired chocobos, pulled it around to race out of the stables towards the, hopefully, final stretch of their journey.

"Didn't think so."


End file.
